The Week That Was, April 27th – May 3rd 2020:

Coronavirus/ What happened last week:

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told parliament that Phase 2 of the reopening process will start on May 10th but the long-term strategy won’t be announced until this week. Parties at Christiansborg are working on a number of radical ideas to kick-start the economy and help businesses when the corona crisis is over, such as state funded gift-cards for restaurant customers, a year of exemption from VAT, and 33% extra for those claiming unemployment insurance.

The National Serum Institute said the rate at which the coronavirus is spreading in this country has increased following the easing of lockdown restrictions last week but remains below the 1.0 that’s needed to keep the pandemic on a scale that’s manageable.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke acknowledged that the health authorities were aware that the corona virus was contagious without symptoms on January 28th but the information only became a part of health guidelines on April 21st.

A parliamentary majority agreed a DKK215m (€30m) corona aid package for society’s ‘most vulnerable’, including kids from alcohol and drug abuse families, people with disabilities who live alone, and the mentally ill.

Professor Søren Riis Paludan of the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University came out in support of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) praise for Sweden’s relaxed handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the ‘party atmosphere’ at the Islands Brygge harbour last weekend the police pinpointed hundreds of popular ‘hotspots’ throughout the country where people will be fined if they gather.

May 1st International Workers Day celebrations throughout Denmark were cancelled for the first time since 1940 when the German occupying force banned public gatherings.

Politics/ Economy:

The centre-left alliance would win 100 or parliament’s 175 seats if an election was held right now according to a new Epinion poll for DR News – the Social Democrats would win 65 seats, 17 more than at the June ’19 election and a sign, according to commentators, that voters support the government’s handling of the corona epidemic.

Parliament’s two most anti-immigrant parties proposed that the Islamic call to prayer be outlawed in Denmark, after the controversial Fredens Mosque in Aarhus marked the start of Ramadan last week by summoning Muslims through loudspeakers.

Defence Minister Trine Bramsen launched an investigation into new fraud allegations at the Ministry of Defence Estate Agency (MDEA) where a former employee allegedly rewarded her partner with more than 4 million kroner ($600,000) by hiring his company at a vastly-inflated rate.

The economic devastation wreaked by the corona epidemic was reflected very clearly in a new Finance Ministry study showing that Danish production across all industries has diminished by between 10% to 20%, costing Denmark an estimated DKK1bn (€133m) in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per day.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Following widespread criticism of the USA’s unilateral DKK83m ($12.1m) grant to Greenland, US Ambassador Carla Sands again claimed her country has no ‘hidden agenda’ – Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimar Barbin, made it clear that his country doesn’t see Greenland as part of the North American continent, as claimed by his US counterpart and accused the US of threatening peace in the Arctic region by directly linking its ‘donation’ to strong criticism of his own country.

It was also reported that Ambassador Sands has offered the Faroe Islands all the aid it needs to combat the corona virus.

A new Swedish money laundering report revealed that many Russian customers at Danske Bank’s branch in Estonia were linked to organised crime and so suspicious they had been rejected by Danske’s rival, Swedbank.

Italy rejected a Danish offer of respirators for covid-19 sufferers- the government made the offer at the start of April following a formal request from Rome but the equipment was deemed too old and unfit to treat patients with covid-19.

The Russian pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy was spotted entering the Baltic Sea  on its way to complete construction of the controversial  Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish territorial waters  – it was also reported that two Russian Air Force nuclear-capable Russian strategic bombers flew over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea earlier in the week, a move that prompted Denmark,  Finland, Poland and Sweden to scramble jets to escort them.

Denmark joined an alliance of ‘like-minded’ smaller countries – Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the Czech Republic and Greece – set up by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, ‘who by reacting quickly and intensively have come through the crisis better than others.’

The government approved a DKK22.4m (€3m) grant to enable Greece to set up temporary homes and improve conditions for unaccompanied refugee and migrant minors.

Top Danish diplomat Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen was nominated for a further 5-year term as Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.

Construction of the Femern tunnel, connecting Denmark and Germany, was given the go ahead to start in January 2021, with work starting on the German side in 2022.

Former US ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford,  was appointed deputy campaign manager for presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Social Affairs:

Copenhagen police arrested a man suspected of preparing an Islamist terrorist attack, Thursday – Chief Inspector Jørgen Bergen Skov said the unnamed person had attempted to source firearms and ammunition to carry out one or more terrorist acts in an undisclosed place and appeared to have been inspired by Islamist militants.

Copenhagen is facing a sporting headache in 2021 when the re-arranged 2020 football Euro championships clash with the ‘Grand Depart’ of the Tour de France – despite concerns, Mayor Frank Jensen said there’s space for both events.

Unemployment rose to 146,000 in March as the lockdown led to thousands of redundancies, the highest level since 2017.

Controversial poet Yahya Hassan who made headlines as a teenager seven years ago for writing a book of poetry extremely critical of the Muslim community he grew up in, died at the age of 24.

Business:

Denmark’s retail sales suffered the worst monthly decline in March for 20 years as the corona virus gripped the country.

Impatient trade organisations started to question the government’s re-opening policy – Jens Birkeholm, head of the Danish Retail Institute, said the confusion surrounding which type of business can open and which cannot appears illogical to many retailers.

Partially state-owned energy giant Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, beat first-quarter (Q1) profit expectations and doesn’t expect the coronavirus outbreak to significantly impact earnings for the year.

Danske Bank suffered an unexpected loss in the first quarter (Q1), its first since 2014.

Scandinavia’s flagship airline, SAS, slashed 5,000 jobs – 1,700 in this country, 1,900 in Sweden and 1,300 in Norway. SAS’ rival Norwegian Air won’t be flying from Copenhagen Airport for the rest of this year and possibly longer – the budget airline presented a revised rescue map to avoid bankruptcy, including a  plan to fly within Norway only for the rest of the year.

And That Was the Week That Was, April 27th – May 3rd 2020: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).